Cisco is
facing tough times as it tries to slash its budget to free up some money.
Anytime a major tech firm starts talking about saving huge sums of money, you
know that layoffs aren’t far behind. Cisco started talking about smaller scale
layoffs a while back and it is now talking about large-scale layoffs with some
starting as soon as the end of August.

Sources familiar with the cost cutting measures are saying that 10,000 jobs will be eliminated and 7,000 of
those will be cut by the end of August. The additional 3,000 jobs are being
eliminated with early retirement packages. The 10,000 employees that are being
let go make up 14% of the global Cisco workforce.

Cisco cut 550 jobs when it killed the Flip line of video cameras. The
additional workers that will be cut are part of the plan Cisco outlined in May
to save $1 billion. The company has already stated
that the costs for the early retirement program will add anywhere from $500
million to $1 billion in Q4. The early retirement package includes a year's
salary and medical benefits.

Analyst Brian Marshall from Gleacher & Co said, "The revenue
trajectory hasn’t been where it should be. The company is not staffed on an
appropriate level. They simply have too many employees."

Cisco is still seeing the erosion of its market share in the important
networking realm where it generates most of its profits. Cisco has lost 6.4% of
its global market share taking it to 54.2% of the market. While Cisco is
shrinking, its main competitor, Juniper, is growing.

“We do believe we have a moral responsibility to keep porn off the iPhone.” -- Steve Jobs